Corruption Charges!!!Fidelity Bank MD/CEO Arrested Over $115m Shared by Ex-Minister Diezani to INEC Officials, Others
The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) has arrested the managing director and chief executive
officer of Fidelity Bank Plc, Mr Nnamdi Okonkwo, for allegedly receiving $115m
from a former minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke. Some
other bank officials were equally arrested.
Okonkwo is said to have been invited by
the former minister to help handle some cash which was to be subsequently
disbursed to electoral officials and groups. According to an EFCC source, the
fraud was uncovered when the anti-graft agency began investigations into how
officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission in Rivers, Delta and
Akwa Ibom states received N675.1m.
The EFCC source said, “Diezani told him
that some companies would deposit some funds in his bank and that she would
give him further instructions on how the funds would be disbursed.
“The first company, Auctus Integrated,
deposited $17,884,000 into the bank. The second company, Northern Belt Gas
Company, deposited $60m while another company, Midwestern Oil and Gas,
deposited $9.5m. A fourth company, Leno Laitan Adesanya, deposited $1.85m while
the MD himself received $26m in cash.”
The source further alleged that
Diezani’s son, Ugonna Madueke, later served as a middleman between the former
minister and the MD of the bank.
He said, “The MD said it was Diezani’s
son that sent him a list of beneficiaries which included several INEC officials
and election monitors across the 36 states.
Diezani specifically instructed
that the funds be disbursed at least a day or two before the elections. The
total amount of money was $115m and Diezani told the bank to convert the funds
into naira, which was about N23.3bn at the time.
“However, the suspects told us that the
volume of money was too big and they had problems converting the funds. So,
Diezani told the bank MD to use the bank’s funds and hold on to the dollars as
collateral and that after elections, the bank could use the dollars to replace
the bank funds.”
The EFCC official also told Punch
newspaper that the bank MD may be charged with conspiracy upon the conclusion
of investigations.
Ex-minister Diezani who is believed to
be currently battling cancer in the United Kingdom, was in 2015 arrested by the
National Crimes Agency in the UK over allegations that border on money
laundering.
Via: Punch
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